Sunday, November 4, 2012

Tunisian Crochet Hat Tutorial

How come winter seems to always creep up on me and I find myself looking for last years winter wear when the first snow has already melted away. It shouldn't come as a surprise, winter is cold and inevitable. It is apparent I'm not a Stark - though the winter is most definitely coming, I have not braced myself. But it's not all bad. This sudden awakening to the reality of colder days inspired me to make a quick and easy new winter hat. It's super easy and fun to do, but the end results are impressive, so I thought I'd share it with you all. Don't be intimidated by the long instruction part below, once you get the hang of Tunisian crochet this is easily a one evening project. Make it multicolored like mine (and risk being called the "one woman gay pride parade" for wearing a tad too much color) or make a nice and subtle grey one for example.

You will need:*A 40cm cable needle or double pointed needles in size 8-10mm (I used 10mm but recommend using a thinner needle)*A double ended Tunisian Crochet Needle in size 8mm*1x50g skein of Naturgarn by Viking of Norway in dark green (color 633)*2x50g skein of Naturgarn by Viking of Norway in variegated purple (color 669)
Íf you want, you can leave out the green and use the variegated purple instead, this way you will only need 2 skeins of yarn for the whole project.

With the dark green yarn cast on 44 stitches on the cable needle or double pointed needles and join in the round.
Row 1: *Knit 1, purl 1*, repeat around
Row 2: *Knit 1, purl 1*, repeat around
Row 3: Increase stitches by: *Knit in front and back, purl 1*, repeat around.
If you are unfamiliar with this type of increasing, here's a video tutorial by Kaleidoscope Yarns on how to do it.

Bring the first 10-20 stitches from your knitting needle to the double ended crochet needle. Turn the work around and work from left to right. Take the variegated yarn and bring yarn over to the needle and pull it through the first loop. Bring yarn again on the needle and this time and from here on pull it through two loops. Again bring the yarn over to the needle and pull it through 2. Repeat until you've finished all stitches on the needle. Then pick up more stitches onto the crochet needle and repeat until you have reached the end of the row.

Here you see how the Tunisian crochet works; every green stitch forms a vertical stitch and the purple runs through it. Working with two contrasting colors really brings out the weave like pattern of Tunisian crochet.

Row 4: With the dark green yarn work from right to left on the right side of the work and pick up around twenty stitches on the needle as follows. Insert crochet needle into the vertical stitch on the row below, bring yarn over to the needle and pull it through the loop.

Repeat as long as you can/wish and turn the work over. With the contrasting yarn bring the yarn over to the needle, pull through 2 loops and repeat.

When working with two different yarns on one crochet needle I find it easier to keep track if I never have less than 2 stitches on the needle. That is, when I'm coming back with the contrasting color I don't touch the last stitches. In my opinion it's easier to continue working this way.

Once you've done that, turn the work again and pick up more stitches on the needle. Basically you're just picking up stitches with the front end and binding them off with the other end of the needle and that's Tunisian crochet for you!

Work like this for 3 more rows (green vertical stiches, purple on the inside) and replace green with another skein of purple. From here on end you will have purple vertical stitches. Continue in same manner for 12 more rows.

Begin cast off on row 21: Skip every 3rd vertical stitch that you would have picked up on rows below and otherwise work as before. Repeat this for about 6 rows until you've only got a handful of stitches. Cut the yarn and run it through the remaining stitches twice, weave in the ends and you're done! SUPEREASY!